Mascara: Drugstore vs. High End

Hi guys!

So, I started using the Benefit They're Real and the Lancome Hypnose mascaras and I couldn't help but compare them to my favorite drugstore Mascaras: Revlon Grow Luscious Plumping, Rimmel Lash Accelerator, and Almay Get up and Grow. My lashes don't work well with super wet formulas, which the Lancome mascara is. This mascara is SUPER wet, and it takes a bit to try. I'm glad I got it in brown because I think the black would be harder to work with, weirdly enough. The packaging is gorgeous and the wand is really nice, the formula lasts a long time and it doesn't flake, but I can't stand the wet formula. When I use super wet mascaras my lashes tend to stick together, which is the other con about this mascara. I'm thinking of layering it with my all-time favorite mascara, Almay Get up and Grow, but I don't know how it'll work. 

All in all: don't waste your money on this. You can buy something else for $26, or get a bunch of drugstore mascaras.

Now onto Benefit They're Real. To start, Benefit is one of my favorite high end brands. I love a lot of what they make, including their other mascaras. I love The Bad Gal Lash (very similar to the Revlon Grow Luscious) because it's great and the formula isn't super wet. The pro's of "They're Real" is the packaging, very sleek and cute with the pink writing, the formula doesn't flake and it does separate your lashes. The cons are the price ($22), the wand, and the formula itself. I'm very cheap (weirdly enough) and I don't like spending a lot of money unless I know it's a great product, and, after all of the hype on Youtube, I thought this would be my new HG mascara. The wand is really painful, although its design is pretty cool. Every single time I use this I poke myself in the eye, which is really painful because the wand is 100% plastic, because the formula is so wet (drier than the Lancome) and my lashes stick together. Like the Lancome one, I've used this just by itself and I'm going to see how it works layered with my drugstore mascaras.

All in all: I wouldn't get this either. If you're in love with benefit mascaras and are willing to deal with the painful wand and wet formula, then you'll like this. But I'm definitely not going to repurchase this once I use it up.

xx,

Ashley 

Product Review: NARS Cream Shadow in "MyKonos"

My mums friend gave me a bunch of makeup that she doesn't use, and in that bag was this cream shadow by my guilty pleasure brand, Nars. (you can find the cream shadow here)

When first swatched, it was quite sheer. I tried it on my eye with the Nars Eyeshadow Base underneath, and it was still sheer. I tried building it up to a color that I deemed reasonable, and hours later I come home to find that it creased and faded considerably.  It's supposed to be a copper color but comes out more like Smog from the Urban Decay Naked Pallet. 

I'm surprised I'm not in love with this shadow, as I'm in love with the other 2 Nars products I have, but every brand has it faults sometimes. I'll absolutely be trying other eyeshadows and cream products from Nars, but this one is not one that I can recommend.

Final answer: skip this one. 

xx,

Ashley

Product Review: Maybelline Color Tattoo Eyeshadows

These bad boys have gotten a lot of hype in the beauty community over the past month, so I had to pick them up (once I could find them). I got the colors Tough as Taupe, Painted Purple, Bad to the Bronze, and Tenacious Teal.

These are gorgeous! The color selection is awesome, they have everything from wearable to super fun. I had to get a few of both, just to test them. My favorites out of the four that I got are Bad to the Bronze and Tenacious Teal. These are the most pigmented, and they compliment my skin tone and eye color. I do like Painted Purple, but it's not as pigmented so you have to build it up a lot. Surprisingly, my least favorite is Tough as Taupe. It's still a nice color, but it's a very weird taupe color. I expected it to look a bit like Satin Taupe by Mac minus the sparkle, but in reality it's really dark. When I put my finger in it to swatch it it turned a black-grey color which was weird, but the color is very pigmented so I'll give it that. It's still wearable and I'll absolutely find a way to use it, but I don't think Tough as Taupe was completely worth the hype.

Final Answer: definitely check these out!

xx,
Ashley

welcome one and all!

Clearly I had to jump the bandwagon and make a blog to go along with my YouTube channel.

Here you'll find OOTD's, product reviews, wish lists, to do lists, DIY's, photography, and random things I love! Short introduction, I know. I think this new project will be super duper fun!

Let me know what you think! Constructive Criticism would be VERY much appreciated!

Hope you enjoy!

xx,
Ashley